Swiss Oscar Entry on Gaza Survivors Gets Dubai Screening as Campaign Builds

Swiss director Nicolas Wadimoff is taking his documentary Who Is Still Alive to the United States after it was selected as Switzerland's official submission for the best international feature film Oscar. Earlier this month, he held a private screening in Dubai to gather support for the campaign.

The film brings together nine Palestinian survivors of the war in Gaza. Because Swiss visas were not granted for the original plan to shoot at the Vidy Theatre in Lausanne, the production moved to South Africa. On a black sound stage, each participant traced the outline of their former home on the floor and spoke about what they had lost.

"We have no stars, we have no actors or actresses," Wadimoff told The National. "So we are going to run this campaign with the tools that we have and the tool that we have is humanity."

Switzerland's Federal Office of Culture selected the film, and the country has offered some financial support, but the filmmakers must still raise additional funds. Wadimoff plans to travel to Los Angeles to introduce the film to Academy members and attract donors.

The director sees the Oscar campaign as a chance to bring the voices of the participants to wider audiences, including in the United States. He acknowledged that the visa refusal and the Oscar selection may appear contradictory, but said such differences of opinion can coexist in one country.

The film is among the international submissions hoping to make the Academy's shortlist in December, before the five nominees are announced in January. For Wadimoff, who has made documentaries for more than three decades, it is his first Oscar campaign.